Retrograde
by Royale Star
Summary: Klaus was just your local German pediatrician who held his friends and vices close as any regular man would. So why was he having dreams and visions every night of himself in the battlefield with eight other mercenaries clad in red, healing impossible wounds and hell even resurrecting the dead. AU-ish. rating T and M for future chapters. Summary corrected.
1. Prologue

disclaimer: I don't own anything, names were added for identifications post/pre-war

warnings: mispellings, typos, grammar mistakes, AU life pre/post-war , blood, gore, probably mispelled cannon names, implied accent that was not typed, OC children for family representatives who will only appear on certain points of the story and I'll add more later on

XXXXXOXXX

The German pediatrician stared at the child's small cuts sprayed around the patient's hands with scrutinizing eyes as his patient continued her endless crying. Apparently from her mother, the patient had forcefully joined a rough game of war with the street kids before slipping unceremoniously on the rough pavement; Which had led them to his clinic. After a brief disinfection, a mix of pretty plasters and a sweet treat in a form of a lollipop, the patient had happily settled to slurping the candy around her lips while the pediatrician comforted her mother and relayed there were no other 'problems' to deal with. "Thank you very much, Dr. Klaus" The pediatrician merely gave his last patient of the day a swift wave of a goodbye and a short 'you're welcome' before closing his clinic. Removing his white coat marked by red crosses and hanging on the coat hanger that was next to the doorway, he gestured at his desk helper to retreat for the day. The young lady stood up stiffly and giving the stern pediatrician a quick nod before leaving. As the German turned the lock of his clinic he recalled he was running low on treats for his patient's; to be exact he was out of jelly beans, chocolate nuggets and his assorted lollipops were hitting rock bottom next. It was the perfect time to visit an old friend for restocking and the German also wanted to check on his friend's daughter; killing two birds with one stone as they say.

The German started walking to his next destination with thoughts of nothing but more paperwork to go home too. Unlike his dear friend, He had yet settled with a family due to his past marriage failures which had somehow convinced the German pediatrician that he wasn't 'destined' to settle down as much as he didn't believe in destinies, fate, fairytales or luck as a man of science. When his friend heard him speak of destinies on families both shared a booming laughterand earning him a pat on the shoulder for encouragement. Klaus took a short left turn before arriving in the small sweets store he had learned long ago to love ...for the quality of the items of course. Standing infront of the store his eyes darted toward all the items he had needed restocking before a tiny shy voice distracted him from his search and calculations. "Dear Lily, you shouldn't sneak up to people like that" The German scolded in an affectionate manner as he patted the young daughter of his friend, making sure not to ruin the pigtails that adorned her small features (unless he wanted to be mouthed down by her strict mother).

"Is Dell... I mean, is Papa home?" The german recieved a wild shake of the child's head in a gesture of a negative response. The young girl wasn't technically mute but her vocal cords were oddly damage when she was born but thanks to an early intervention from Klaus, she could still speak but had to under go proper rehabilitation for it. "you want the usual?" as if on cue, Lily spoke up as she was already on autopilot on gathering the Pediatrician's stocks from the oddly familiar red dispenser without much as waiting from the response from the pediatrician. The German couldn't help but smile yet he couldn't help but feel an odd sense of de ja vu at the girl's routine. As if he had felt someone throwing stocks of syringes from the very same dispenser standing in front of the young girl. He mentally pushed the odd feeling down as he reached for the supplies Lily issued to him "Danke, Lily. Have you been visiting your rehab sessions?" prompted by the question the young girl merely nodded and stared silently back at the Doctor. "Don't worry, I won't be doing any physical checkup today, rest assured." the keyword was 'checkup' that had prompted for Lily to run for the hills as much as The german expected it. Dell had oftened confided with him at how he had to pull Lily to any clinic or even his clinic was a problem/trauma area.

With his stocks refilled, he started marching back to his clinic. It was no surprise to anyone that he had slept in his clinic for the lackof a home to go 'home' too anyway plus it was definitely cheaper on the rent. Reopening his clinic to only grant himself entrance and to start sorting the sweets to each jar. Once he had sorted everything as well as his pile of paperwork that seemed endless; somehow the German preferred to simply drink his woes off for the night. Not like he drank often, he just did when Dell invited him or when he felt rather annoyed, depressed or even angered; a hidden vice beneath his pristine white sleeves of his doctorate. Now he wanted nothing more than to drink himself to stupor and it wasn't because of the usual reasons previously stated.

He was having odd dreams recently

No... to be precise as he usually was: he was having flashbacks of a certain Life far from his current status. He wasn't even sure if it was his past life or another person's life he would continually watch as he lay his head to bed.

He would 'dream' of wearing the same white long sleeved coat he had worn during his clinic hours as pediatrician but it would often be blood-stained mixed with dirt, snow or whatever the terrain would be. He'd see odd figures and individuals who were injured with deadly wounds who would call and holler his name; but he didn't hear his usual 'Klaus' but instead it would be replaced by 'Medic' when the dreams occured. As 'Medic' he would somehow heal them completely with a gun-like machine that spewed a red and dare he say it? sparkly beam and somethings he was granted with a power to bring the dead back to life. It was a fun fantasy world if it weren't for the fact it felt almost like an old reality, a pass job he had prior to where he was now.

And he loathed the very idea that he was now constantly dreaming patches of a possible memory or his slowly turning insane imagination. Fetching his brown coat, The German started his way towards the loud scottish tavern that Dell introduced to him. For some out-worldly reason, The Barkeep had made a connection with Dell and had immediately became friends or perhaps their love for a good beer or drink was the basis of their friendship. Stepping in the Tavern he was welcomed with the cheers of merrymen and a waft of booze which has now smelled promising to the prediatrician.

"Ahh the doktah, welcom to meh humble abode. Ima guess yah want your usual sire?" The Scottish barkeep gave the German a huge grin before promptly taking a swig at what the German heard the Scotman call his 'scrumpy' or at however you pronounce it. "Ja, demo if you please" When Dell introduced the Scottish man to him, Dell had called him Demo since as per rumor that he previously worked on explosives as a family tradition which was later on caught the tongue of the German whenever he visited this particular pub. Passing the drink to the Pediatrician, who had but wolfed the drink down quickly as he asked for another. Demo cocked a curious eyebrow at the Doctor before the barkeep spoke once more as he handed the Doctor another of his hand-made work "lad, I can tell yah have some deep thoughts right ther, gonna tell ol' demoman here?" originally and as expected by Demo, the German had refused to speak of his troubles but nothing like a little alcohol in one's system to make them start talking. With a hand clutching his forehead and another caressing the glass, The German has showed more of his color and previously hidden annoyance. The Bar-keep merely grinned at his customer waiting for yet another story; was it a break-up? I'm gay/lesbian for someone and it's unrequited? my lover cheated me? I cheated on my lover? I lost everything/something/someone kind of story which was almost normal conversation between drunks.

"Demo, do you ever dream... of a var you have never been to?" The doctor slightly slurred partnered with his german accent.

Well now, that was a new question and story. "If you meant I did some explosions for some war then yah sure"

"Nein, Nein you dummkoph, I meant dreaming of a var you don't remember a zingle thing about and yet.. yet it feels so real!" The Scottish man stared at his customer after the 9th glass of the mixture of his signature handiwork of a drink the man had taken. The barkeep was now dead sure his German customer was now in the thin lines of tipsy and drunk with all the the German words he couldn't understand and the way his accent was passing through like a rushing train. "Not on me side doktah, but if yeh want to talk it out, I can be of service" And so the German pediatrician had now started spewing to the Scottish barkeep utter nonsense of dreams and visions that he was a military doctor and he was healing wounds and gushes far larger than his thigh (Demo couldn't help but laugh at how the tipsy German had used his own thigh as a basis of measurement) and resurrecting the dead by some weird box that prevents a person from 'permanent death' status when the 'respawn' was down. After a few hours of talking about his problems, the Pediatrician had slumped on the bar counter and was fast asleep.

Demo simply lifted the handset of the landline before punching in a familiar set of numbers. When the other line pick up with a gruff and annoyance the bar keep couldn't help but let out a laugh at how sleepy the other person was "Sorreh Dell but I nid yah halp on somethin' or to be exact, the doktah knocked himself out and I don't have a place for him" With a simple yet sleepy 'okay' the barkeep placed the handset down and let his eyes rest on the sleeping doctor. He didn't really want to kick the guy out of his bar but he didn't really have a place for him plus it would be hard to explain to his blind mother that there's another person breathing in their bar passed closing time.

When Dell arrived, there were a few drinkers left and it wasn't too hard to find his friend slumped comfortably on the bar counter with Demo still handling other customers. The Engineer simply took the bar stool to the left of the Pediatrician before Demo acknowledged his presence "Fucking finally Dell, I was already losin' me hope and preparin' a speech for my dear ol' mother!" The Barkeep let out a jolly laugh before setlling a cleaned glass on one of the nearby shelves. Sparing a glance at Klaus, The Engineer couldn't really tell what could have made him drink this much. Recently with his work schedule on the new project clashing with Klaus' clinic schedules, he hardly had a chance to talk to the German doctor; he had even asked Klaus to fetch Lily from school sometimes due to the schedule constraints "So what was troubling Klaus?" The Engineer asked with his voice still laced with slight drowsiness.

"oh ho, yah wouldan't believe what he told meh Dell!" Demo merely let out another tirade of laughter before speaking once more "He was havin' this weirdo dreams of bein' in a war of sorts when he's a freakin' kid doktah here. Heck he even claimed it was soooo real that it was 'is past or somethin'!" As much as Dell couldn't help it, the Demo's laughter was contagious and he too had found himself laughing at the very idea of the woes of his sleeping friend. Really? Klaus being a military physician was close to him being a pole-dancer; he knew personally that Klaus detested the idea of joining or aiding any side of a war.

However, amidst the busy tavern of the Scottish barkeep a lone figure had huddled himself in the corner away from the public eyes with his red balaclava gracing his face. The mysterious figure merely smirk overhearing the conversation between the bar owner and another customer. "It's only the beginning doctuer, you will soon realized who you really are and where you belong" the statement was spoken softer than whisper as the mysterious figure disappeared with eyes trained over the figure of a slumped physician on his shorter friend.

XOXXXOXXX

Author's notes:

If you have yet to get the gist of the story then- oh well, maybe you can try rereading it again

also the god damn upload in the doc management kept prompting my tablet to check the document on my camera, camcorder and gallery. JUST HOW DO YOU UPLOAD WITH THOSE OPTIONS FANFICTION?

and when I went for the copy-paste route, it turned my quotations "" into &amp;&amp; which I had to edit out online. THAT WAS MEAN FANFICTION

anyway this is also a short plot-bunny and I hope I haven't butchered their accents that badly.

As for pairings, I'm not sure yet since it'll all develop once future chapters starts incorporating character development. As much as I ship the cannon heavy/medic I wouldn't mind shaking it up but yeah that depends on the development.

kay later.


	2. In Your Eyes

disclaimer: I don't own anything, names were added for identifications post/pre-war

warnings: mispellings, typos, grammar mistakes, AU life pre/post-war , blood, gore, probably mispelled cannon names, implied accent that was not typed, OC children for family representatives who will only appear on certain points of the story and I'll add more later on

XXOXXOXXX

The spy staggered with as he could observe: several broken ribs, multiple bruises and cuts, a gunshot wound on his left leg and a broken left hand to boot. He had barely escaped Gray mann and his league of machinery with only the help of his invis watch that was barely clinging to his left wrist. Gray mann had made sure and ordered a medibot to take any assault type weaponry and that sad excuse of a robot didn't even bother with his invis watch but had retrieved his dead ringer instead. Catching his breath and leaning on a metal wall to somewhat balance himself, the Spy spared a quick glance to the manor to which he was previously imprisoned. He didn't feel any guilt of leaving his team behind and it was part of his job tehnically; he was aloof and silent as he took out the other team or at least that was what he wanted to believe. Blast his last shred of humanity in him for building a tiny foundation of camaraderie in his ice cold heart which was now leaving a pang of guilt for abandoning his team and a certain interest for the sake of self-preservation. He recalled grimly how he had woke up strapped in some sort of operating table that put medic's own devices to shame. He was trapped with the Medic and Sniper of his team as much as it was ironic, he could tell Gray mann most probably categorized his captured mercenaries by their action on their team.

As he could recall, the spy glanced around the pristine white room and fully accepted the fact it was just truly the three of them in the support faction strapped or rather restrained in the room. It was dead silent save for his teammate's breathing as they were still unconscious and well, very much alive. Out of instinct, the Spy quickly formulated ways to escape while trying out the restaints limits. He didn't bother checking for his weapons, surely anyone who abducts dangerous mercenaries are well aware to disarm them when fully restraint. Funny how he still had his invis watch that he only noticed when he checked the time which was as much as he could turn and see, it was already 1:30am or so. The spy hopefully thought that at least Gray mann would be human enough to either sleep or busy himself like their engineer who often locked himself in solitude whenever the engineer was busy designing new stuff on his sentries. Now was the best time to escape and he did not plan on staying any longer to observe the trend when he looked like he would be sliced open for experimentation soon. The spy however didn't expect 'soon' to arrive a few minutes after constantly squirming; the white doors slide open to reveal the very essence of his hatred at the moment. Gray mann stood with his head high and a maniacal grin perched on his lips.

"Now is not the time to dwell on it" He told himself as he close his eyes and tried to breath deeply, the spy pushed the memory out of his mind. He needed to focus and get away further with Gray mann on his tail even though he was already out of Gray territory. It wasn't once or twice did he thought of going back to his team due to what he deemed as his last shred of humanity but logically thinking of the situation it was impossible to even return to Gray manor when he was injured like this and much less help his teammates escape. He wasn't even sure if the other 6 mercenaries where alive considering he only saw the Medic and Sniper. The Spy felt a dipper stab of guilt when he recalled how Mundy was the first to be subjected in whatever Gray had planned for them. He didn't and wouldn't want to know what Gray mann did to his Sniper, surely it was something he would dare fathom even on his enemies.

The spy slid down the wall, his legs couldn't bare his weight along with the bloodloss, injuries and exhaustion he was currently enduring. He would let out a sarcastic recognition with how long he had manage with a gunshot wound on his left thigh if it wasn't for the fact the potential of a permanent death would happen at any moment for him. 'Was it the end?' The spy thought bitterly with his vision swimming in between reality and darkness. Death shouldn't feel far from respawning but at least with death he'd only feel it once and be done with it. The spy was no pessimist, he was just being logical as much as he loath how he only managed to get away this far. He mustered whatever strength he had left to lift his gaze towards the sky to stare at the vast sea of stars along with the full moon.

However it wasn't the sky that greeted his gaze.

It was that damn wizard.

The spy was far too tired to contemplate on why was the master of lore was staring back at him from his 45 degree angled gaze and why in the heaven's name would this being be near Gray manor. He noticed how the annoying wizard was moving his mouth and muttering things he didn't understand or care for the moment. The spy simply shut his eyes in somewhat of an acceptance of his end; badly injured with a crazy wizard infront of him already told his odds for survival. Death however felt strangely far better than expected and it was certainly unlike respawning; He felt as if he was floating in mid air and his injuries slowly disappearing along with the sensation of pain. A burst of warm and cozy feeling swam through out his being almost in a comforting manner like a buzz from an ubercharge. The spy didn't plan on leaving the warm sensation till he fell unceremoniously on the grassy ground by the wall he once leaned for support earlier. The spy's eyes opened in shock and he let out a short groan as he started rubbing his lower back that cushioned his fall with his left hand.

The spy froze from his back soothing.

"how in the world..."

"I, Merasmus, may be the master of destruction and chaos but a weak healing magic certainly wouldn't be too hard for me" The wizard spat as he dust off imaginary dust on his brown cloak as a floating book behind him snickered. The spy tried to hide his shock as he was a master of hiding emotions but anyone would be utterly surprised to see a wizard who would endless cause havoc in hallow's eve to be healing a mercenary. Muttering a 'Thank you' to the wizard the spy slowly stood up inspecting his clothing and his being; He was fully healed minus the fact his pinstripe suit was now tattered to bits. "Prey tell why are you assisting me wizard? surely you have other beings to bother with your time." Merasmus cocked his head towards Gray manor before speaking in his less booming voice "I require your assistance, as much as I prefer to just destroy everything to shreds... I lack the power to do so at the moment" The Spy's expression turned into confusion at the wizard's statement as he look through his pockets in hopes of having a quick smoke which ultimately failed. "So what exactly does a master of lore gain from healing a Spy and freeing 8 mercenaries? I doubt you care if Gray mann takes over this damn earth"

The Spy found the wizard fidgeting, playing with thumbs in a childish manner after he spoke and from what he could tell the wizard wasn't planning on divulging the sensitive information anytime soon. Technically, the Spy was the one who would gain from cooperation the wizard was offering which he didn't mind so he simply changed the subject. "Why couldn't you just mow down that god forsaken factory?" The wizard could heal a man on the brink of death so charging at the manor should be relatively an easy task as well. "As much as I want too, I would still need the power from 5 full moons or halloween to come up to harnest the power I need" Merasmus spoke with a tinge of embarassment. The Spy would laugh mockingly if it weren't for the wizard healing him but the floating book behind the wizard did the deed for him before being swatted by the wizard's wand. With Merasmus and the book which the spy didn't bother knowing the name of, started arguing which was amusing and nearly comparable to 2 brats fighting over a tattered toy.

"Ahem! gentlemen, would both of you knock it off before we are discovered" The spy hissed as he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance; it was amusing for the first 2 minutes but it left nothing more than an ire of annoyance. Surprisingly, both of the participants of the mini argument stopped and finally gave their stare at the third member of the party. with the attention of both the book and the wizard, the Spy gracefully started marching away from the manor as he beckoned the two to follow in his steps. He considered just cloaking away since he hasn't accepted the terms of cooperation but he could tell the wizard was going to permenantly bother him till he agreed. "Look here wizard, I don't mind having your assistance but with your status of being power drained and myself missing my tools for work would simply leave us as walking targets. We might as well leave for now." The look the wizard gave honestly spoke that he didn't want to leave but he knows they should. The spy tried to stop himself from snorting; the wizard was surely easy to manipulate with how he bought his expressions with such honestly.

"Oui, I could work with this" The spy muttered which made the wizard stare at him with a slightly confused look before the wizard started following after the spy. The first agenda was to find a decent suit followed by a nice balisong, sapper, other cloaking devices and a revolver. Attacking could wait, considering one magical being, a floating loud-mouth book and a devilishly handsome rogue doesn't pull their chances of winning. The spy needed information and he was the best person to obtain it; he just needed to know why and what was Gray's intentions and plans to actually counteract properly. The Spy wouldn't admit it but he was damn curious as to what had happened to their sniper, not like he could help at all at the moment.

XXOXXXOXX

Several days of information scavenging had gone quite well but the data he had gathered was despairing to say the least. The Frenchman was now disguised as a pyrobot, no one really bothers with the silent firebugs. However when Gray had called and beckoned his army to gather at hanger 21 the spy could tell he was going to have a painful migraine. He dropped the disguised and switched to his cloak and dagger which he would never divulge the source of his tools and how he retireved it. Watching the hanger fill in with thousands of those robot abominations were getting on his nerves. It was odd to notice how verbally loud Gray's robots have becomed as if they were chatting about in excitement of the announcement.

"Glad to see some of you are are getting used to your... new profound knowledge and rationality" The spy stared at Gray mann as he spoke. The old man was pacing on the stage with utmost tension before he stop just infront of a spybot "Except, maybe for you" The mann brother patted the spybot with such affection similar to a mother who knows her child was left out. The old man then resumed his tirade of goals and plans to achieve the said goals with a voice coated with beaming confidence

All be damed, Gray mann wasn't just after his brothers, the land his brothers owned or the mercenaries; Gray wanted the whole picture, the comical world domination plot. The Mann brother had also abducted the mercenaries to basically on what the Spy assumed, photocopy their capabilities and hell even personalities to further enhance his robotic abominations. It was a tacky and disgusting plan if his assumption was correct but he had considered no one could truly outmatch them in the first place. The next question that popped into the frenchman's mind was when Gray was done with his brethren, what did he do after? dispose of them? The Spy would have lost his mind but thanks to a lonely wizard who had used his 6000 years worth of wisdom and lore to detect life forces, Merasmus had confirmed that all 8 of his brother's in arms were very much alive although in terms of the exact location of each mercenary would be a different story.

The Spy immediately left the vicinity. He had heard enough of Gray's plan and it wasn't at all pretty. Escaping the manor was now easy with how many times he had to sneak around to gather information. The Spy had made his way towards his temporary shelter with despair slightly gripping his being. Robots where everywhere now, taking over towns and cities; the news blastered nothing but the blasted robot army and their achievements. Having a wizard as a partner had plenty of benefits in terms of protection which he was thankful for. On his way to the castle the Spy had expected to see several robots on the way however he was careless at the time when he alerted a heavybot nearby

The first time the Spy encountered one of the improved robots was a heavybot; it was skulking around the now abandoned park near the castle from the recent machine assault. When the Spy activated his cloak and dagger in an attempt to escape an encounter, he noticed something odd about the heavybot. The robot look around as if to scout the area before cuddling the minigun and wiping the tip of the said minigun with a rag it produced from it's metallic pocket. The spy couldn't help but stare with his mouth agape while cloaked as the heavybot then proceeded to verbally praise and compliment it's minigun with it's deep static voice. There was no doubt that if it wasn't for the static vocals and the metalic clacks of the robot's body, the spy would be tricked into believing Misha was the one standing there with his beloved sasha or it was an amazing spy that could reach his level of skill in terms of disguise.

This was Gray mann's version of the mercenaries and they came in thousands.

After his quick observation the Spy immediately left to return to Merasmus' castle which was made as a temporary shelter. Surprisingly enough, Gray mann had yet shown intentions of any aggression to the master of lore. Granting himself entrace, the Frenchman waltz in as graceful as always as he decloaked in the safety of the magical castle. The Spy was greeted by a pleased wizard who had worn a excited expression combating his grim emotions.

"Mortal, I have great news!"

"Well get on with." The Spy withdraw a cigarette from his case; a habit that was never planning to die any earlier than himself. When Merasmus shared his great news, the Spy found himself in one of the corners of a scottish tavern not expecting his eyes would linger on a drunken Scottish one-eyed barkeep, a passed out German pediatrician and a sleepy Texan engineer.

XXOXXXOXX

Eavesdropping conversations without being too obvious was one of the basic skills a Spy could ever have and it came to be helpful in the blasted tavern. Originally he had planned to approach the barkeep; no one would miss or forget a black one-eyed beast, it was obvious that it was the Demoman of their team. When the Spy stood from his sit to finally approach the drunkard he was once again interrupted by none other than another teammate, the Medic no less. Lady luck was on his side and it was unbelievable that for one he had found 2 of his teammates and the Medic was verbalizing patches of memories about the Gravel wars. Slowly, all the pieces of information he had gathered had now somewhat fused in to a small portrait.

Their abduction...

Human interaction, abilities and reaction of the robots...

The odd 'amnesia' his teammates were facing along with their false lives they were currently living besides the spy.

The Frenchman was right all along. Gray mann had somehow transfered his teammates memories along with the skills gained from those memories to his abominations and for some reason the spy couldn't decipher Gray didn't dispose his teammates but had let them live false lives. Perhaps it gave Gray power over their lives that the old man had probably enjoyed.

"It's only the beginning doctuer, you will soon realized who you really are and where you belong"

When he muttered those words, the Spy didn't expect himself to sound hopeful. The Frenchman was certain their temporary memory loss would be easily resolved with a few nudges here and there; hell even their team's Medic had already started the recall process without his prompts. This could work in his favor and goals which mainly involved putting that disgusting excuse of a connard and his robots in their proper place, 6 feet under the topsoil to be exact. Activating his cloak and dagger, the Spy started following the three mercenaries as they escorted the sleeping German to what seems to be a truck under their Engineer's name. A frown surfaced on the Frenchman's features as Dell bid his farewells to Tavish. The Spy wanted to start his 'gathering' with the Medic as Klaus had already started recalling who he was. He deactivated his cloak behind a corner in the tavern and had patiently wait for the return of the barkeep who had started swaying back to his tavern; typical Demoman, always drunk and rar-never sober. Originally he had plan to disguise as a fair damsel but perhaps he'll push his luck for now and even try to trigger the memories of the Demoman with his appearance Gray wasn't even hunting him down or maybe Gray thought he had killed him at the manor. The Spy let the Demoman return to his bar counter before casually sitting infront of the barkeep. His presence was quickly acknowledged as the Scottish barkeep immediately went to his direction.

"Wha' can I get yah?" Tavish greeted with his drunken grin. It was common for him to have customers in expensive suits but not someone who also wore a balaclava with the said suit.

"Hmm, why don't you take a guess with that bartender" Casual talk was a nice start for gathering info. His conversation with Tavish was jumping from weather to types of whiskeys. As much as he had 'enjoyed' his conversation with the barkeep he wanted the location of the Medic as soon as possible. It would be easier to convince someone to assist him in his plans when that someone had started the recall process; the Demoman and Engineer can wait. The Spy was also being rather careless in his opinion, going to the obvious wasn't his style but perhaps the drunken Scot would be more accomodating to his interrogation.

"Pardon me but the gentleman earlier... was he a physician?"

The Scottish barkeep's lone eye narrowed for a second with suspicion but the look disappeared as he spoke "Ahh the German? yup, he's te local kid doktah here but trust meh he can fix enyone. If you hav' enyone sick of aney age, he can treat em!" Tavish let out a drunken laugh before continuing his statement "He can be a little weird though, don say I didn't warn yah."

The look of suspicion didn't escape the Spy and for that second he felt he was already exposed but thankfully the drunken black cyclops had surprisingly let it slide. The Frenchman reminded himself Tavish was a sharper mercenary the more he drank. Returning his focus on the task at hand, he merely let his left elbow rest on the bar counter and leaned on his left palm in a relaxed position. "I have a very rare condition you see, no one in France could fetch me the cure I need." The Spy pointed at his red balaclava for emphasis "I even had to hide it behind the public's prying eyes. Do you think the Doctuer could assist me?"

"I wouldn't kno' lad but you can try visiting his clinic, The kid doktah lives quite clos' from here" The Scottish barkeep had proceeded to produce a piece of crumpled paper and a jet black pen before doodling the map of the location of the German Pediatrician. The Spy stopped himself from smirking at how his interrogation was going so smoothly. Although he might have been too hopeful as the Demoman offered badly drawn Spy was about to critique the horrible artwork of the Demoman when his thoughts were interrupted by none other than the Demoman himself. "Listen carefully lad, I won't be repeatin' myself" Tavish proceeded to verbally tell the directions to the clinic as the Spy took note of each word with much concentration.

"Much appreciated" The Spy stated as he stood from his sit. Mundy had always pointed out how it was only 'professional' to thank anyone for their assistance and the very reminder of the Sniper had bought a sense of heaviness on his chest. Now was not the time to be worried, he was on a mission that would ultimately save them all anyway. "leavin' so soon? you 'aven't tried me house special!" The Spy raised his hand in a negative manner "Thank you but It's getting rather late and I have other matters to attend too. Adieu" Not hearing the response of the Scottish barkeep the Spy left the establishment with much poise. Today was truly enlightening in the Frenchman's opinion but he would much rather retreat to the wizard's castle for a much needed sleep.

XXOXXXOXX

It was one of those visions or dreams again but unlike any of the previous blurry visions, it was clearer and somehow he felt like he was honestly been 'here' but everything was at the back of his mind and as much as he wanted to just interrupt the memory or whatever he was seeing, he couldn't do anything but be in an almost 'autopilot' state as Medic. Klaus was in as he would describe it, a snow field barnyard accompanying a burly man towering over him. The sound the 'minigun' made by his 'companion' was so loud that it had drowned the screams of numerous men clad in a shade of blue as they die from the endless bullet shower. The German had also took note of the fact he was once again utilizing the gun-like healing machine and with how vivid the 'memory' he could now see the machine was connected to some sort of backpack slinged on his shoulders and it had several switches and levers beside the main lever that his right hand was currently on. His tall companion turned to him with a huge grin plastered on his features before his companion stated 'You are a great doctor!' in which Klaus had returned with a bow of sorts.

However their thanking exchange was interrupted by a missile barely missing them. Klaus felt fear grip him as his eyes landed on dozens and dozens of men in blue clutching rocket launchers and other weaponry who were gathering nearby. The fear he felt immediately melted away when he felt the gun-like healing machine had started to be surrounded by something similar lightning. before he could fathom what that even meant and it could have been a breakdown for all the work the machine was doing, he heard himself inform his companion that he was fully 'charged'. The statement his dream self 'Medic' stated was utter nonsense to his 'present' ears; why would anyone even say that to fellow soldier and in the military survival situation no less. Klaus watched as his 'companion' gave a stiff nod and leaping towards the numerous men clad in blue. In Klaus' opinion it was suicidal, no matter how miraculous healing 'Medic' did with the machine he had his hands on, no one could survive the continuous rain of bullets, rockets, arrows or whatever projectile the opposing team slinged at them. In the back of his mind however he could tell he was about to do something as 'Medic' to turn the tides of the battle. As if on cue, his companion roared the words in what Klaus could now tell in a thick Russian accent 'Now Doctor!" Klaus or rather 'Medic' then flipped a switch that had a label of Ubercharge on it which he had just noticed. Klaus suddenly felt a odd red energy coat his whole being along with his companion who was under the rays of the miraculous healing machine. 'Wunderbar' was the only word that came to him when he tried to describe the red energy that serge and coated him and his ally. He felt warm, comfortable, unstoppable and nearly god-like as the projectiles that targetted them merely bounced off similar to a soft beach ball. They had turned the tides with the mysterious healing machine along with the minigun that roared bullets endlessly. Before Klaus or 'Medic' could do anything else he started feeling the ground disappear beneath his feet and everything washed in the darkness

The first thing Klaus took note of was the fact he wasn't in the in the snow drenched barn, clinic or the tavern he had decided to drown his sorrows in but it was still a remotely familiar place to him. His recognition of the place was interrupted by a pulsing hangover which was nothing the Doctor couldn't handle. The German slowly steadied himself to a sitting position before finally absorbing the place he had awaken was no doubt in his mind that he had woken up on a brown couch under Dell's roof. The Doctor lifted his gaze at the wall clock to note it was only 5:34 am; damn his insomnia and his weird visions, it could even bypass his drunken state for some miraculous reasons unknown to the German pediatrician. Klaus felt terrible bothering someone as busy as Dell. the Engineer was up to his ears with projects that popped out daily and employers that demanded so much from the Engineer. The German pediatrician had somehow let his mind wonder to the lucky facts he was still the commander of his clinic with no one to constantly bother him about his paperwork lagging besides a certain Secretary. His workaholic Secretary and desk clerk, Ms. Pauling would bring her clipboard to a total smackdown on his crown whenever she had caught him experimenting on something else rather than his current career. It was against the new law to go against the flow of work chosen for each individual by their level of skill which he had found ridiculous but Gray was a dangerous leader and the German had no current plans to be sent to death row. Klaus hadn't noticed as he was busy with fleeting thoughts that the very head of the household was standing infront of him offering a glass of water. the German pediatrician finally snapped out of his trance when Dell placed the glass of water on the coffee table and promptly gave him a light shake on both shoulders.

"Oh gott" Klaus lifted his right hand to put slight pressure on his right temple. The light shake had made his migraine deal a sharp pain that bounced in his skull.

"Maybe next time you wouldn't drunk yourself silly without some company." The Engineer once again picked up the glass of water and offering it to Klaus who had happily taken the offer. Dell took the available sit beside Klaus before relaxing in the presence of his now sober buddy. "You know I don't go meddlin' in your business but what got in to your head to drink yourself this down again?" The question nearly caught Klaus off guard if it wasn't for the fact he was reminded that he hadn't confided with his friend in regards with his visions his been having the pass few days due to schedule constraints. The German pediatrician had already planned to inform his close friend in regards with his profound dreams but It was only in these ungodly hours that their schedules actually worked out. "Danke Dell, although you probably heard my problem from herr Demo" Klaus paused his statement as he tried to read the Engineer's expression which had turned from unreadable to worry as he continued with his confession."recently, I have been having odd dreams my friend, dreams that I star as a military doctor of sorts" The German took a quick sip of the water he was offered earlier before he started speaking once more "I... I was healing other mercenaries with this gunlike machine that I'm sure you would like to study." Klaus could tell he had snagged Dell's attention with the mere mention of anything he could tinker his hands on "With the miraculous machine on hand, I could heal and close any type of injury and sometimes I would be granted with an amazing power to raise the dead and be god-like to the point nothing could harm me"

To the Engineer, he had hoped that Tavish was just being his usual drunken scottish self and was just joking about the Doctor's story about dreams of being a military doctor. A machine that could make one god-like was a nice distraction but with his dear friend now spouting more details on the 'drunken tale' had made Dell more worried and he couldn't hide it without his googles and hardhat. He was a man of science with 11 phDs, a husband to one spouse and a father to one daughter and yet he couldn't come up with any solution as his dear friend babbled on visions of being a 'Medic' and being god-like. "Hold a god darn minute mister, did you just say Medic?" Dell couldn't stop himself as he nearly shouted his statement. 'Medic' sounded so familiar, it was almost akin to relief and yet it sounded so foreign on his tongue at the moment. The German pediatrician gave a short nod before continuing from his interrupted tale.

The Engineer tried his best to listen to his friend's problems but there were so many keywords that kept hitting him with the annoying feeling of de ja vu. First it was just Medic but it was followed soon by Dispenser, Control point and many other key terminologies that he was sure that he had never encountered in his entire life until now and yet all of them sounded so familiar and close as family. Dell knew he had to get those odd ideas out of his head and Klaus' mind; it wouldn't do well if both of them can't do their jobs chosen to them by the leader of the new world. Any misfire or misalignment in the eyes of Gray mann was prison and worse, death row. When the German pediatrician was done with his litany and had exhausted himself, Dell merely gave a comforting pat on the shoulder of the German. "That's quite a talltale Klaus, but you know better than to bother yourself too much on your dreams." The Engineer scrambled for a better phrase as his first statement sounded quite rude in his opinion. "I mean, just let it be Klaus. Perhaps your imagination got bored with treating patients on a daily basis and wanted to give you a taste of adventure" Dell recieved a light laugh from Klaus to which Dell joined in.

"Perhaps you are right Dell, it's merely my imagination"

XXOXXOXXX

Author's gibberish:

I didn't check whether my quottations turned to &amp;&amp; since I saw the last line was alright

Fanfiction is still prompting my gallery for my word document for some reason and I'm taking the heaven's for the copy-paste option.

Anyway, if you haven't gotten the gist of the story Gray mann has finally started his world domination and the mercs have to live through it.

next on the agenda is the Spy, he knows all of the mercs first names and of course the implied Sniper/Spy

The healing abilities that Merasmus has came from the author of Lethal mistake (Merasmus/Soldier - Soldier abuse fic I loved dearly)


	3. Lies

Same warnings as previous chapters

THANKYOU WraithReaper for the code check

It was already dawn when Spy had arrived at the entrance of the old castle from his short investigation and he wanted nothing more but lay his tired body down on his bed designated by the wizard as much as he was still getting used to the idea of a bed floating in the air. He was also getting used to the feeling of passing through a inviscible force field each time he had returned from his excursions. He lay his left hand on the wooden door; his gloved palm already feeling the magic scanning through his glove at the moment of contact. It was intriguing and certainly appreciated that the wizard had actually invested on defensive and protective spells although it would have been better if he didn't have to do a ritual that involved a blood sacrifice from yours truly. When the blood ritual was finished he vaguely wondered if Soldier and his army of racoons had to do the same; it was no secret that Soldier was the former room mate of Merasmus until he finally moved in the RED base. The Soldier was also the reason why the damn wizard started attacking in the mercenaries in the first place.

The wooden door slowly dissipated into clear smoke as it granted Spy entrance to the mysterious castle. The floating candles granted him some lighting as he moved silently to his designated room. He had hope that the wizard wouldn't poke for information as he was trying his best to stay awake long enough to reach his bedroom. Unlike the immortal wizard, Spy was just another human being that wanted to sleep after 40 hours of being awake and working at max gear. As he arrived in his private quarters he quickly headover to the adjacent bathroom which he was greatful for. The base had it's charms but he community showers were a huge let down in his opinion. When he deemed himself to be clean enough, he simply dived on his floating bed and hugged the blankets on his body without a single care for the floating book who was sneaking about in his room.

The Bombinomicon watched the mercenary cuddle his blankets and it couldn't help but snicker eerily at the sight as much as he was rewarded with a pillow thrown at him. The Spy made it clear he wanted to rest his weary body but the annoying book had other plans much to the Spy's dismay. However before the Spy could pull out his balisong and rip the mystical book to shreds the Wizard had step in for him. "Bombinomicon behave yourself. The mortal wishes to rest, he at least have proven to be useful in our search" The Wizard spoke with a hushed tone and swatted the book as punishment. The Spy's first impression on Merasmus was more of in the words of Scout: 'bat-shit crazy' considering the balloon head and water/jarate spells and with how their partnership was going his opinion on the Wizard had changed drastically but he still didn't trust him. With the annoyance gone, the Spy got up and double checked his security as much as he knew it was useless as the castle compromised of magical energy and out of the human touch. Finding solace in his false security, he once again laid on his bed and finally gave into the abyss of dreams.

Merasmus stared at the Spy through the magical mirror he sponstaneously produced, a short incantion does wonders on keeping tabs on someone he didn't trust yet. The Spy was a class far too secretive and manipulative for his own good. The wizard couldn't tell if the Spy had other possibly ill intentions against him as the team up was definitely on the spot in prompt. With a short thump of his staff the mirror disappeared not leaving a single trace of its existence.

"I say you should just dump him" The Bombinomicon screeched with much false enthusiasm but the Wizard merely ignored his floating companion as they walk towards the top of the castle. Originally he was merely testing his healing knowledge when he first encountered the fatally injured mercenary as he was on his way to Gray manor but due to the not so mastered healing spell he ended up wasting too much energy. When the mercenary fully recovered and had tossed his share of questions, Merasmus had to throw very unconvincing statements as not to reveal his reason why he was on his way to Gray territory.

That old man had offered Merasmus a chance to walk in this damn world as a free man or being for that matter, no more annoying inquiries, police issues or question in his power. All he had to do was agree to assist the old man in his plot which he hadn't learned about. Yes it all sounded so easy till he bumped onto an unexpected almost dead Spy, who also informed him that the rest of the mercenaries were detained in the horrible castle of robots when he pretended that he was planning to attack Gray mann. Ultimately, Merasmus never answered Gray mann upon stumbling on the information Spy had issued to him via questions.

No one was allowed to touch Soldier except the Wizard himself. It made his blood boil under his skin with the mere idea that someone else was man-handling his possession. He'll be linient for the respawn wars they have as it was well fun to watch as a past time for the wizard but outside of that playing field, Jane was his to torture, mangle, destroy, take care of and love along with his army of god-forsaken racoons.

Merasmus would have just stormed in the robot factory if it wasn't for the fact he had wasted plenty of energy nearly resurrecting the Spy and he was now continuously powering and protecting his castle as well as looking for certain life forces. He wished a power boost from full moons or Halloween would come sooner but it would take another couple of weeks or months depending on the situation. They arrived on the top of the castle, the highest tower of the castle to be exact. He could feel the wind blowing his robe as well as the curses that the blasted book uttered before the Bombinomicon took shelter beneath his robe which was not as effective as expected "Merasmus! Must you always choose the worse time to cast your search spell?! I might lose a page or two here!"

Merasmus slowly left his staff on the ground beside him before letting both his hands to reach for the bombinomicon. "Oh what nonsense are you spatting now? you're a cursed living book for god sakes." The Wizard gave a short swat at the book with his right hand and with the same hand he produced a small vial of uncoagulated blood. "Now hold still, the faster we do this the faster you can go back bothering your new playmate!" The Wizard had hope that was enough to convince the conniving book to shut up and let him do his spell.

Surprisingly enough the book settled infront of him at chest level and the Wizard quickly snatch his chance to cast his spell. The Wizard tilted the vial of blood enough to produce a drop of the crimson liquid to drop just above the Bombinomicon. An exchange was always valued in the world of magic, those pesky spirits of magus where always after the taste of blood. Merasmus then started his incantation as his eyes started to glow an eerie green light and soon his vision was transfered to dimension of souls. It was this same spell that he had manage to find the Demoman and hopefully find his room mate.

The dimension of souls was a very cold, dark and ominous place filled with glistening black stalagmites and a near graying mist. Death or should he say Dorothy would watch the souls to be harvested here before he would escort the souls to purgatory for the jugdement and placement. Basically an off limits place to any living being including the Wizard. He knew for one that he wasn't suppose to be here but it was the only concise realm that can locate any soul at any given time but the downside was he had to look at each soul scepter then go into the actual body to identify who was the owner of the soul. It took him days to locate the Demoman and he wouldn't be surprised if took another few days to find his Soldier. With an annoyed mind set, the Wizard started his search. In this realm, time was faster and he was only vaguely aware of the events in the world through the eyes of each soul he looked into.

After a several soul scepters, accidentally entering the Spy's soul scepter and close encounters with Dorothy, Merasmus was already drained from the constant ethereal jumping but one more couldn't hurt him for the day. When he dived into this soul it was the second female body he had jumped into for the spell's duration but when he was about to leave he didn't expect to see a familiar face infront of him. He took note of the location as well as the time he had met up with this familiar face to inform the Spy. It was progress but it wasn't Jane.

XXOXXXOXX

Bidding a short goodbye to Dell, the German pediatrician felt slightly refreshed from their conversation earlier. What was he babbling about? it was just his harmless overactive imagination that was giving him all this visions and such. Klaus politely took his coat from the Engineer as he left the lovely abode as silent as he could be, it would rude to wake up the spouse and daughter of the owner of the house.

What he needed was a good vacation; away from doting mothers, overly zealous children, careless adults, paperwork and maybe get together with miss Pauling. The very mention of the young lady sent an odd shiver to his spine. She was strict and always followed protocol which was also the reason why Klaus was constantly being pommeled by the young lady's steel gray clipboard for letting his paperwork pile up as he started researching on other methods of healing. It wasn't bad to be pulled to focus by Pauling but certainly her steel gray clipboard pommeling method could have been more affectionate as they were lovers. They were lovers hidden from society that had started at most three days ago so they had to pretend to be friends rather than anything closer but somehow it sometimes didn't feel right. He hadn't notice when he arrived in front of his clinic but he was greeted by none other than the fierce young lady with a sour expression. "You are late Klaus. I hope you have an explanation as to why you are late"

"Well as you can see I simply enjoyed my time last night. No harm done by being late for a couple of minutes" He was hoping that he could elude the young lady and delve back to work but perhaps it was fate that he wouldn't escape miss Pauling. The young lady took a firm grip on his left arm, completely halting his escape and coincidentally making eye-contact. Klaus could tell Pauling wasn't going to let that simple excuse slide but there was something else in her look, was it worry or curiosity? Klaus couldn't truly tell.

However before she could say anything the first patient of the day arrived with an obvious sniffling. Miss Pauling promptly let go of her grip on Klaus before she went to her duty as the desk clerk for the clinic. Secretly thanking the arrival of the patient, Klaus quickly head over to his side of the clinic. He couldn't help but feel curious about what miss Pauling was about to ask him but it had to wait. He fetch his white coat and prepared himself for the upcoming patients for the day.

After the first case of the common cold no one had thankfully needed his attention. Sparing a quick glance at his desk clerk and making sure she was preoccupied with her share of work before he slowly got up to check on his doves. It had slipped his mind to feed his dear doves as his first case of the day arrived quite early along with miss Pauling's interruptions. His doves were stationed in a separate room in his clinic; modified and sheltered to have the temperature, humidity and lighting to be adjusted on whim. Upon opening the door, the German physician was greeted by none other than Archimedes who perched immediately on his right shoulder while the rest of the flock were in wide segregated cages. The German physician wouldn't mind letting them all out but with the risk of them bothering his patients and losing possible test subjects were far too great.

Once all of his doves were well fed, cleaned with enough water last for the day, Klaus left the room along with Archimedes. It wasn't favoritism mind you, Archimedes was above all of the doves he had owned and she was one of the first avians he had modified legally to go beyond the traditional life span of doves; on top of the fact she was oddly smarter than the rest of the flock even before he had adjusted her cells.

Letting the dove perch on his right shoulder, the German pediatrician sat near his desk before pulling the second drawer of his work desk. He had done a few computations, designs and failed formulas in regards to the gun-like machine in his visions. As much as it did remind him about the troubling duties as Medic it wasn't a bad idea either to produce such a brilliant work of technology. First he would have to devise a serum or solution of sorts that can modify cells to reconstruct without worning the body out of nutrients and aging to a dried out fruit. if he ever succeeded in creating the perfect serum, second on the agenda was the route of administration. The gun-like device in his dreams made healing much easier with a pull of a trigger and certainly Dell might help him to manually recreate the device in his dreams. He couldn't even fathom how much it would improve medicine at present, he could even find a cure for malignant cells although it was slightly disheartening that if the whole project succeeded, hands-on operations would disappear completely.

Klaus reached for his fountain pen in his breastpocket and started scribbling numerous herbal plants, chemicals that he deemed compatible and regenerative. The aim of the machine was to be able to cope up damage delt to an individual without ultimately speeding the aging of cells and returning the body to it's strongest state.

strongest or should he say god-like state like the charge he saw in his latest vision.

Klaus didn't even noticed he had labeled the current formula he was working on as Ubercharge as he was far too focused on dealing with proper formulas and correcting computations on the dosages.

The German pediatrician had also failed to notice his desk clerk now looming over his shoulder with a dark expression

"Ubercharge... what an interesting choice for a formulation name" Klaus nearly flipped over and knocked off his desk clerk as she spoke with her indignant highpitched voice. Archimedes quickly took flight as Klaus scrambled to hide his formulas with an embarassed and flustered look. "Miss Pauling you nearly surprised me off my chair!" Klaus continued gathering his wits as well as his papers while feeling the odd stare from miss Pauling. "Try not to do that again, bitte" As Klaus ended his sentence, he couldn't explain it but he felt a sudden and strange sort of fear talking to miss Pauling as he was caught in the act.

"Klaus..." she started her voice laced with poison as she averted her gaze towards the only pathway to the exit "Tell me honestly Medic, does ubercharge mean anything at all to you?" Miss Pauling returned her gaze back to the German pediatrician. Klaus couldn't help but feel the fear increase ten fold with her stare. His mind was telling by all means do not tell her anything and by the gods make a story. The situation was already far from dangerous for the fact she mentioned and even labelled him as Medic when he haven't even mentioned her anything of his dreams. Charmaine Pauling was hiding something from him but now he needed was a distraction.

"Charmaine, I know I'm a Pediatrician and I may handle some adult cases but calling me Medic? how generic." Klaus gave her a short chuckle before smiling sadly to her "In regards to the name... I assume you don't like the name either? even the kids I asked told me it was a lame name for a syrup..." He tried to look disappointed as much as he could and now he needed something to guilt trip her as part of the distraction "I really liked the name... does it really sound too... as what the kids say? lame and a loser name?" Klaus slumped his shoulders in defeat before looking at the white tiles of his clinic.

He heard a set of footsteps before he lift his gaze towards the source of the footsteps. Miss Pauling was standing infront of him now with an expression of a mix of guilt and ... he couldn't identify the hidden emotion in her eyes. Pauling reached for his shoulder in a sort of conforting way before she spoke to him in her motherly tone "Oh Klaus, that's not what I meant! It's a great name!" Pauling smiled at him, the sweet 'no teeth' type of smile but he could sense something else that yet again he couldn't identify. "So what kind of syrup are you concocting?"

"Well I was planning on making my own mix of antipyretics along with some stimulants. Manufacturers these days have no sense of taste! Do you have any idea how many of their annoying mothers complain to me of ill compliance due to flavor" Klaus continued to ramble and make up his story as he went on even Archimedes had settled on his shoulder to listen to him. Pauling merely listened as she always does and it was slightly unnerving how she looked like she wasn't completely convinced.

"Alright Klaus I get it" after 2 hour mini-lecture, Pauling had succeeded in finally halting Klaus' rambles that was now on the topic of respiratory illnesses. Klaus took a hold of her right hand as he drew small circles with his thumb "I'm sorry, I know I just rambled earlier and I'm asking too much but I promise once I flush out all the flaws I'll show you the whole project" Klaus felt the odd need to lie as much as he didn't want too. However it seemed whatever the German pediatrician had done had convinced his desk clerk. "If you need me, I'll be taking my long over due coffee break" She gave him a quick peck on his cheek (with him bending slight due to the height difference) before she marched out of the main doorway with her dress shoes clacking loudly.

As Pauling left the German pediatrician with a soft click of his door, he let out a short sigh of relief. Klaus didn't know how long Pauling would stay to interrogate him and with sheer luck he had actually driven the workaholic woman away until work hours were over.

Wait, why did he want her to leave him alone?

Klaus couldn't help but wonder why he couldn't confide with her or to be precise, he felt he shouldn't even trust her now; even when he held her delicate small hand all he could feel was emptiness and lies. He felt very secured to share his dilemas with a one-eyed scottish barkeep who he just met a few nights ago so why couldn't he feel the same way for Pauling? With how his intimacy with her should have made him feel far more safe to divulge all his problems with her.

The Dreams, it was the dreams

Ever since he started seeing visions of Medic he also started to doubt his doting lover. It wasn't just Charmaine Pauling, his whole life as a Pediatrician felt controlled and placed on his being. His mind and heart screamed at him that everything at this very moment wasn't his life.

"Nein, nein, I shouldn't be thinking about it. This is who I am..." Klaus stated in the empty clinic and he knew no one would reply to me. "I'm not Medic..." He muttered as low as a whisper as he gave his hair a quick tug in an attempt to clear his mind.

XXOXXOXXX

Charmaine Pauling didn't leave for coffee but she left the clinic for other reasons. She knew for the fact Medic was already recalling no matter how much Klaus tried to denied it or hide it from her. Nothing would bypass her, after all she was the very person to double check their files when they were recruited for the Gravel wars and hands-on person to actually see all nine mercenaries in combat. She was the first person to offer they artillery and oftened double checked the blueprints or modifications the mercenaries might have done with or and usually without their consent. She was the person that directly reports to Helen, Blutarch, Redmond and now Gray mann.

Gray mann had ordered her to slay Helen as he took out his brothers. Helen who was the speaker and administrator for both sides. Pauling killed her with a swift straight cut with Red Scout's Guillotine that slashed open both her right and left common carotid artery. She watched Helen clutch her neck as blood spattered and sprayed all over her; Pauling wouldn't lie, it was down right delightful to watch Helen choke, drown and bleed to her death until she was immobile. With the top three hindrances out of the way next was the mercenaries and she had a very dark idea on what to do about them. She was the one who suggested the diabolic idea of harvesting the skills Gray's robots needed from the mercenaries themselves. As expected from a genius such as Gray he had manage to engineer a machine that was designed not only harvest skills but with his personal touch, harvest both skills and personality of the subject. Gray wanted robots that automatically improve and update without having to deal with constantly computing and formulating databases. In short terms, his robots were going to be designed to be able to adapt, improve and empower themselves automatically while never questioning his command.

Her next assignment after Helen's death was find the mercenaries for Gray to feast on.

Blutarch's set of mercenaries were far more obedient than what she expected; they all agreed to give up and leave without much as a fuss and they even cooperated willingly but in her professional opinion which she offered to Gray mann that they were under par compared to their counterparts under Redmond. She was always closer to the RED team, she even dated their Scout once since she was impressed of the prowess of the youth. Redmond certainly impressed her with his choice of mercenaries, they were quick witted, agile, strong and were just plain outstanding.

As anticipated however Redmond's mercenaries were far from cooperative than their Blu counterparts.

With the assistance of BLU team, several robots as well as herself as the commander of operations they had managed to capture all nine RED mercenaries. It was then a matter of when Gray was done harvesting what he needed from them. However she didn't expect the Spy to slip away, curse those damn robots not checking carefully. Pauling also didn't expect Gray to simple let the RED mercenaries live.

"When the need arises as my power is questioned and not even my darlings could convince them... I'll have the mercenaries to back me up." Gray stated in his message for her as she started her next assignment.

She was assigned personally by Gray mann to be Medic's desk clerk to keep close watch over him as much as it escalated to a fake relationship which she didn't necessarily mind; the closer she was the better as Gray mann stated. Apparently Gray had filled the mercenaries with false memories and completely bow to his whim. When Pauling asked for an explanation for such an odd assignement as she could have been far more useful in the frontlines, Gray merely gave her an exasperated look.

The transfers didn't completely worked.


	4. Encounter

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Warnings: Same as previous

XXOXXOXXX

Klaus couldn't help but keep glancing at the entrance of his clinic. Pauling hadn't returned from her over due coffee break and it was leaving the German pediatrician in a slightly paranoid state of mind. It felt botherline unsafe that he didn't know her whereabouts. knowing where she is meant that he could at least predict what to do next and it wasn't for the fact she is technically slacking off.

How did he trust her in the first place when he was panicking internally now.

Klaus let out a soft sigh in a sad attempt to ease some of the frustration he was feeling. First, he couldn't convince himself as Dell stated that his mind was cruelly playing tricks on his sanity with the identity of Medic. Second came from the idea as medic that he shouldn't trust Charmaine Pauling; the beautiful and strict desk clerk that knows her protocols and how to wear and sway her tight dark brown skirt to show off some sex appeal.

It was endlessly frustrating no matter how much he tried to look on the bright side and if there was any 'bright' side to begin with.

Klaus finally realized it was futile to overthink the situation. It would do him more harm getting distracted and slacking off rather than do something productive which was also making him feel slightly worried for Pauling. The new world leader, Gray mann tend to have eyes every where and his eyes came in a form of a small black metallic ring that usually rests on a person's right index finger. the rings were 'issued' to all civilians who were now under Gray mann and his robotic army as a sign of agreeing to surrender and be protected under Gray's rule. The metallic bands tracked location, any sort of movement, vital signs and even thought processes and ideas which was surely astounding if it wasn't for the fact it also sounded like he was merely carrying out Gray's will rather than having the freedom of choice. Any form of ill intention or action to the ring automatically triggers the band to inject high doses of an unknown concoction of poisons that could literally kill a man under 60 seconds; no matter how large or small the offender's body surface area.

Having ill intentions wasn't the only way to get punishment, any sign of not doing your job basically equates to a few options which the supreme leader gets to decide by a short tap of a remote or console as Gray will always be notified. Options ranged from: torture, experimentation and lastly death. The German pediatrician retrived his dishelved piles of notes that he previously attempted to hide from the eyes of his lover and promptly returned to tinkering with the formulas. As long as he looked busy and there was no one else left to treat that would be suffice in escaping an early death. In his vision as far as he could recall at least, whatever the gun-like machine spewed was a translucent and almost denseless mist that doesn't seem to have a specific trajectory however it follows the target. Klaus was truly astounished with the technology he foresaw in his dreams excluding the fact it was giving him an identity crisis. He'd have to ask Dell regarding the possibility of such engineering to be achieved in the present. Klaus collected his sketches of the healing machine in a short cream folder before shoving the folder in the second drawer of his desk. Designing the route of administration would require another person's assistance.

Setting the machine designs aside, the other problem he had to deal with was the actual serum. Theoretically, the serum must be targetting a person's or an objects molecular structure or cells to enhance reconstruction or regeneration; how else did dream Medic manage to reproduce the limbs of his comrades while making sure they weren't returning to the battlefield naked. Klaus decided to focus on the actual regeneration rather than reconstruction, surviving was technically the priority of any situation. Klaus resumed scribbling formulas, traditional and synthetic sources that would fit the description but it wasn't coming all too well as much as he could hope. There was no ointment, cream, lotion, tablet, capsule, syrup, elixir, solution (may it be oral and or intravenous) and poultrice presently in the market that was capable of rejuvenating injuries that range from a short laceration to a thrid degree burn in a matter of 5- 30 seconds. The German pediatrician knew he needed something that was miraculous enough to actually spike anything to regenerate like the medigun.

The German pediatrician paused from his furious scribbling and nearly dropping his favorite fountain pen that lay precariously on his now laxed left hand.

"Medi... gun..."

Klaus voice was more pacified than a whisper when he stated the noun.

'Medigun' sounded almost brotherly to the term 'Medic' and it wasn't because they sounded alike.

It hit him like a rushing train as information of the medigun started pouring into his mind. Klaus dropped his fountain pen that now rolled beneath his oak desk which didn't matter to him at the moment. The German pediatrician found himself shutting his eyes and clutching his head in a sad attempt to ease the infomation overload. The miraculous healing machine in his dreams was the medigun; the serum was made of the very ore that made Australia the leading nation in terms of technology, Australium. The briliant ore that was so versatile that it could be molded to any form and can be applied to anything and apparently anything included medicine and recovery. The medigun he made didn't need ammunition or constant repleshment of Australium, it just needed time to recover and resustain itself as he apparently made it to be able to reconstruct itself like an organism. Klaus knew the information now exploding in his mind was too much and it may cause slight confusion as well as a migraine but it wasn't suppose to make him feel as if his consciousness was slowly slipping from him.

Something was stopping him from remembering the information by shutting his mind down and he was 100% sure that it was Gray mann.

Klaus didn't even notice how he was now lying on his side on his pristine white floor with Archimedes gently pecking his temple in an attempt to get his attention or perhaps trying to keep Klaus conscious. The German pediatrician tried and successfully opened his eyes just to see a man in a pink or was it red pinstripe suit topped with a ski mask. If it wasn't for the fact that his vision was flickering and he was about to pass out, Klaus would have thought the man infront of him had a psychotic disorder with how he was dressed when he was visiting a physcian. Still fighting to stay conscious, Klaus felt a pair of hands pulling him up in a what he could describe as a sitting position. He could see the mysterious man's mouth moving but his voice was far in the distance from him.

"..on dieu... Med.. tay wi...I ne...happ..en" the mysterious visitor sounded close to french as far as he could hear the patches of words that had manage to pass through his slipping consciousness. Klaus' eyes fluttered shut as his world slowly fall to darkness.

The last thing he heard before his mind finally fade out was a voice shouting Medic.  
XXOXXOXX

"Medic!" The Spy hadn't noticed he was already shouting as he tried his best to keep his team's Medic conscious which ultimately failed. He was now with a dead weight partnered with a familiar dove that had settled on sitting on Medic's head. The Spy promptly swipe the dove away, he had always found Medic's choice of pets were the worst. The Frenchman couldn't help but feel he was too late to arrive in the scene as much as the Medic didn't seem to appear to have any physical injuries or at least as far as his eyes could see.

A few hours earlier when he woke up in the mystical castle the Wizard had greeted him with a proud smile when he desended from designated quarters. The Wizard had informed him that he had indeed found the exact location of two more members of his team. The Wizard's voice boomed with much pride as if Merasmus was obviously asking for praise. However the Spy didn't feel much happiness recieving the information relayed to him by Merasmus.

"I, Merasmus, had found your team's Medic and the young lady who recruited you in the gravel wars"

The Spy already knew where the Medic was but knowing the Wizard had also found Miss Pauling, he couldn't help but feel both troubled and worried. She was one of the reasons for the downfall of RED and BLU and their capture. The Spy pulled a cigarette from his case and lit the cancer stick; he needed his vice to keep him functioning in a normal state. "Where, Where did you see Miss Pauling?" Merasmus grinned, his skull cap slipping as his grinned. "Oh I've found her with the Medic of course!" The very moment the Wizard stated the location of miss Pauling, Spy immediately bolted for the exit of the shielded castle while dragging an unsuspecting Wizard and was now presently infront of an unconscious Medic and an annoying dove.

The Spy proceeded to check for basic vital signs; he quickly removed the glove of his right hand and placed two of his fingers over the Medic's carotid artery while watching for the rhythmic rise and fall of breathing. Spy was no medical expert but with a pulse and positive breathing was enough for him to pass as alive. The Frenchman let his eyes finally leave the Medic to sweep around the clinic as he pulled on his glove; no signs of struggle, not even a forced entry or perhaps he should be looking into possible poisoning. The Spy's attention quickly returned to the unconscious Medic . Usually poison cases would physically show palor, labored to weakened breathing, racing to slowly degrading pulse and sometimes rigidity or seisures. Klaus showed to be far from poisoned but closer to being sedated. With a final deduction that the Medic was far from any life-threatening situation, Spy stood and adjusted his suit which was rumpled from back stabbing a random citizen, stealing a deadman's vehicle and rushing to arrive to the clinic. He had bought also dragged Merasmus with him just in case if he actually needed any back up in retrieving the Medic however the Wizard wasn't at all happy that he asked to sit in a stolen vehicle to wait for the Spy's signal.

Spy left the unconscious Medic to find any sort of information he might need in the future. Surely even if the Medic lost his memories, the man's enthusiasm for research should still be deep within his being. Spy sweeped through the shelves and lockers but found nothing of interest until he stumbled upon the Medic's desk. Piles of paperwork mainly on what he believe to be the Medigun. The Frenchman couldn't help but grin wickedly with how the Medic was already making so much progress even without his assistance.

Spy was rudely interrupted in his thoughts as a loud horn from a particular stolen vehicle rang throughout the street. Spy couldn't help but just rub his temples at the sheer stupidity of his current predicament, he wouldn't be surprised if Gray's army decided to march in and just kill both of them with how loud the horn was. Perhaps Spy just placed too much credit on Merasmus after all Merasmus was a wizard of destruction and not deception or sneaking. "No point crying over spilled milk..." Spy quickly moved to action and started dragging the Medic towards the exit of the clinic. He could listen to the Medic's complaints later but he was pressed for time with how their position was exposed to the world.

Spy froze on his tracks as he heard a click of a revolver.

"Nice seeing you again Spy or perhaps you would like to be addressed as Julius?" The person blocking Spy's only way to escape was none other than miss Pauling with her revolver directly pointed between his eyes. The Frenchman slowly place the Medic down on the floor before standing in full height with his hands busy lightning his fifth cigarette for the day. Spy smirk and let his left hand hold his cigarette as he spoke "I'd prefer to be addressed as Spy if you don't mind mademoiselle but I couldn't describe this meeting as 'nice' as you see it. We both know we certainly do not have the time to waste" He replaced the cancer stick between his lips before he blew a puff of smoke all the while maintening his smirk. Spy knew she wouldn't kill him instantly with a headshot considering he had discovered her gruesome 'hobby' even before she initiated her attack under Gray's name and the possibility Gray wanted him alive as well for experimentation. He could use that information to his advantage as much as it sounds cowarly to hostage one's self.

Spy was waiting for an opportunity to disable her and he knew it was coming soon.

Pauling returned his smirk with an innocent smile and spoke with honey in her words " Here I thought you were a gentleman who would always entertain a lady with pleasantries. I do miss that personality of yours." She tucked her loose hair behind her right ear while keeping one hand on her beloved pistol.

The Spy merely scoffed "Surely now is not the time for sweet exchange of pleasantries mademoiselle. As a gentleman, one should learn when to speak at the right place and the right time." Before Pauling could counter a response to his statement, a loud explosion pulled her attention which resulted in an explosion of glass in the clinic. Spy attempted to shield himself and spared a quick glance towards the window and had noticed Merasmus was thankfully far from their getaway vehicle and was trying to grab the bombinomicon who was the very cause of the distraction. Having a destructive wizard with his bicker-prone and equally destructive book as a partner in crime had it's advantages as much as it usually bought disadvantages, now was his chance.

He quickly took the distracted opportunity and lunged at Pauling. As Spy expected her reaction time was fast she already took note of her mistake and shooting at point blank range would kill her target. Spy knew what her directives were and killing him wasn't one of them. Instead of shooting, Pauling instinctly and swiftly holstered her pistol with her left hand while pulling a short axe on the other hand simultaneously. Pauling swinged the short axe towards the charging opponent however Spy already predicted the surprised move. he ducked just in time to dodge the swing and quickly used his right arm to lock her from making another swing and bring her down to the floor. Pauling dropped the axe which Spy promptly kicked away out of reach.

In retaliation, Pauling quickly pulled her pistol with her free hand and quickly pulled the trigger to which the bullet merely grazed on the Spy's right shoulder. She once again gained her freedom as Spy hissed in pain as he lost his lock hold on her and immediately went to clutch his now bleeding shoulder. She holstered her pistol once again while extending and bringing her left leg towards the Spy in an attempt to bring her taller opponent to the ground. Spy finally gathering his compusure quickly jumped back from her leg range and pulled out his ambassador. Even before an exchange of bullets could be issued between the two fighters a large explosion caused the wall on Pauling's side to collapse prompting her to evade and disappear in the burning piles of rubble. Merasmus emerged from the sea of fire and rubble with his arm hooked around the squirming bombinomicon while tapping his brown staff in an impatient manner. "Must you force me into casting my fireball spell just to get your attention? Those robotic abominations are everywhere and I don't know how long I can keep them distracted!" The Wizard screamed before running towards the vehicle they stole earlier. How in any god's name did the cedan they stole manage to survive the explosions would always remain as a mystery to the Spy but now was not the time to unravel that thought. Smoke and fire was slowly engulfing the building and if the Spy wanted to get out alive he needed to mobilize immediately. Spy tried to stay low as possible as smoke started filling the clinic and he still needed to drag the Medic out of harms way or at least that was his initial thought in the whole scenario.

The Medic had regain his consciousness but had remained where Spy left him to scuffle with miss Pauling however Medic obviously looked frightened and confused in the whole event. The Frenchman wasn't sure when Klaus regained his consciousness but at least he didn't have to drag the physician as deadweight. The Spy extends his hand to the Medic and hopefully the Doctor would value his life prior to trusting him. " Doctuer if you want to keep living you would come with me" Spy was surprised to say the least the Medic promptly grab his hand and immediately stood with his assistance.

"I... don't know why I feel I can trust you but ... i need to free my doves first" Klaus spoke in monotone but Spy could tell the Doctor was beyond hell confused and most certainly overwhelmed with the fact his livelyhood was burning slowly to ashes. The Frenchman couldn't help but feel utterly disgusted by the Medic's numerous disease spreaders but if it meant they could leave the building alive it with the bonus of recieving compliance from the Medic it would suffice as much as it risked getting surrounded. The duo entered the dove room and as expected Medic's doves were all frightened and flying helplessly in their cages. Spy let the Doctuer free his beloved doves as he stood far away as possible from what deemed as disease ridden birds.

When the last of his doves finally escaped the two mercenaries left the slowly burning building through one of the numerous windows the clinic had. Merasmus must be casting his spells as the numerous robots were passing around as if they had no idea an explosion just occured in the vicinity or the existance of two mercenaries for that matter. "Follow closely Doctuer and I'll guarantee our safety" Spy didn't wait for any response from the Medic and simply grabbed the wrist of the Doctor and lead him towards the vehicle he stole earlier. It was odd how silent the area was minus the burning and slowly collapsing building that was once known as the children's clinic. However it was the Medic who first broke the silence "Why is there no robotic response? look at them simply ignoring our existance and can you please let go of my wrist? I'm not the one injured here" The Spy promptly obeyed the request knowing full well the Medic wouldn't try to escape him in the first place. "Oui, I'm quite sure gray should have ordered his abominations to at least control the situation and yet we're alone." the Frenchman paused as an idea struck him "Actually nevermind, there's a magical reason why we're not surrounded by his abominations"

The German pediatrician couldn't help but stare at the back of his mysterious French visitor with the odd statement "Magical? Mein gott you got to be kidding me and let me see your shoulder after this" Klaus wasn't entirely sure if his insane mindset was right with following a mysterious yet familiar man in escaping the wild fire. Spy merely waved the idea of inspecting his wound at the moment as they were now walking towards a blue cedan and Klaus could see another figure in the vehicle. The Frenchman opened the passenger sit for the Medic in an odd gesture of welcoming even in his slightly injured state however the Medic was now hesitating to get in the vehicle. "Mon cher, don't tell me you would hesitate now of all times?"

The German pediatrician looked away before he spoke "I may trust you at the moment herr Spy but that person behind the wheel is another story to be determined." Klaus wasn't sure why he deemed and named the mysterious visitor as 'Spy' but he'd hope the slip of his tongue would be ignored for now. A person could be convince to trust a man in a proper suit albeit it was partnered with a balaclava but placing trust on a man wearing a tattered brown cloak, a bone helm that decorated his cranium and topped with a fish-head belt that wrapped around his waist was ten-fold harder to do.

Spy couldn't help but let his eyes widen for the moment before he pulled back his composure. He hadn't even introduced himself considering the cascading events that occured and yet Medic was already referring to his class name. As much as he would like to elaborate more and jog Medic's memories, he'd have deal with his new predicament. Technically if it weren't for the current status of the mercenaries, Spy would probably drive his balisong to the Wizard rather than trust him. The Wizard in question took the mercenaries attention as he spoke "I don't have all day to wait for you and much less magical energy to protect us from prying robotic eyes. GET IN"

Spy knows full well Medic would prefer a full conversation and debate on trusting the Wizard but with how urgent Merasmus sounded he decided for another way to get the Medic in. Spy quickly grabbed the Doctor's necktie which made the other person gasp and lean forward in an attempt to relieve the pressure around his neck, and shoved the Doctor inside the vehicle before quickly jumping in himself. Medic had landed on his stomach initially when he was rudely shoved be the Spy to which he quickly shifted so he was laying on his back. Klaus was expecting the Spy would be taking the shotgun position considering as far as he could tell, there were at least 3 people inside the vehicle. What he didn't expect was the Spy to jumped on top of him and basically pushing the air out of his lungs and staining blood on his white coat due to the still bleeding shoulder wound. It was beyond awkward with how close they were and considering the person he now deemed as 'Spy' was basically straddling him in their current state "Get off of me, dummkopf!"

"I would gladly honor your request if you stop shoving your hands on me!" Spy didn't exactly plan on being in such a position with Medic in the first place if only the Doctor would calm down long enough to stop shoving his hands on his being. The two mercenaries were busy with each to notice the doors of the vehicle had already automatically shut and the engine roared with much enthusiasm an object could have. Merasmus openly ignored the arguing mercenaries at the back of the vehicle and merely made sure to have his sit belt on along with the Bombinomicon, which was seated on the shotgun sit.

Finally getting his body separated from the Spy and slightly less flustered; Klaus finally took note how the man infront of him was driving without holding the stirring wheel. "Mein gott, how are you even driving this car!?" the man in question look towards the Medic without even utilizing the rear-view mirror infront of him "It's against your laws to drive without a driver's license and since I don't have a driver's license to drive I thought I might as well use my magical license instead."

Klaus couldn't help but just drop his face in his palms. and even letting the mysterious Spy pat him in a comforting manner as if to say you'll get used to it. Medic couldn't fathom how he could place his life on the hands of a psychotic, horribly dressed driver and a slightly well-mannered gentleman wearing a ski mask.

XXOXXOXXX

Author's gibbrish:

Apologies for the short fight scene, I'll do my best next time to add more flavor to it

and if you squint hard enough you might even notice a slight MediSpy moment.

I love head cannon pairing but damn after reading a few mediSpy fics I do think this pairing needs more spotlight but for this story I'll simply stick to heavy/medic, sniper/spy and merasmus/soldier for now 3


End file.
